


Sovven Night Festivities

by Griselda_Gimpel



Category: Valdemar Series - Mercedes Lackey
Genre: 5+1 Things, Death, F/F, Fluff, M/M, Period-Typical Homophobia, good things happen to gay characters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-17
Updated: 2020-02-17
Packaged: 2021-02-28 00:15:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,556
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22764583
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Griselda_Gimpel/pseuds/Griselda_Gimpel
Summary: Five Sovven Nights that Vanyel spent while Stefen was alive and one Sovven Night that Vanyel spent after Stefen was dead.Set at the very end of Magic's Price.
Relationships: Stefen/OC, Vanyel Ashkevron/Shadow-Lover, Vanyel Ashkevron/Stefen
Kudos: 16





	Sovven Night Festivities

**1**

Vanyel had expected to spend his first Sovven Night in the Forest of Sorrows either with Yfandes or slaying bandits, if any chose the night of festivities and mourning to bring harm to innocents. A part of him hoped that it would be the latter. He liked to spend Sovven Night working.

There was a rustle in the breeze behind him, but he could tell that it was no mortal threat. He turned and found that it wasn’t even a threat. Before him stood the Shadow-Lover. He looked different from the last time Vanyel had seen him, which had been roughly three-quarters of a year prior, when Vanyel had died.

Something about the Shadow-Lover’s attire struck Vanyel strange, and as the Shadow-Lover came closer, Vanyel was able to place what it was. The tunic the Shadow-Lover was wearing was done with rich embroidery, gold on black. To Vanyel, the Shadow-Lover now took the form of a beautiful man with ebony hair and eyes. It was the same coloration, Vanyel reflected, that Master Dark had worn – but such warmth and kindness would never have been found on Master Dark’s face.

“Good evening,” Vanyel said by way of greeting. “Somewhere to be?”

“I always have places to be,” the Shadow-Lover answered. “But have you forgotten? Tonight is Sovven Night. This night belongs to me. There’s a town a bit of a ways from here. They’re throwing a grand feast. I intend to attend.” He saw the look on Vanyel’s face. “Not in that capacity. They’ve got a rather talent minstrel I enjoy listening to. I’ll court him eventually, but it won’t be tonight. Care to join me?”

“Didn’t you say that you have places to be?”

The Shadow-Lover chuckled. “And I am at them right now, just as I am here with you.”

“What about the border?”

“The party is near the border,” the Shadow-Lover said. “You can guard there tonight.”

“Very well then,” Vanyel said. He took the Shadow-Lover’s hand. The Shadow-Lover led him a few steps, into some dense underbrush, and out into the village square. They were still, Vanyel knew, in the Forest of Sorrows, but they were in a different part of it. There was an assortment of small villages that lay in or at the edge of the Forest, and this was one of them.

“Would you care to dance?” the Shadow-Lover offered.

Vanyel hesitated. The words _But Stefen_ crept into his mind, and then he realized that he was being silly. Death was everyone lover in time. He took the Shadow-Lover’s hand just as the minstrel started up a tune.

“Oh, how lovely,” the Shadow-Lover said. “They’re playing my song.”

Vanyel laughed. Sure enough, the minstrel had just begun the opening notes of _Shadow-Lover_.

There was a magnificent bonfire in the center of the square, and a great many couples danced to the music. No one noticed Vanyel and the Shadow-Lover – no one could even see them. A few times, the Shadow-Lover led Vanyel right through another dancing couple, which caused them to shriek at the sudden chill and then laugh in delight. Everyone loved a good scare on Sovven Night.

**2**

On the seventh Sovven Night that Vanyel spent dead, he encountered Stefen. It wasn’t planned on Vanyel’s part. He was passing through a village near the border when he spotted his beloved. For a moment, he thought that Stefen had come looking for him, and then he saw what Stefen was doing.

He was composing a song. He was out on the edge of the festivities, sitting on a tree stump, stroking his glittern. Vanyel drifted closer. Stefen had his eyes shut.

“Herald brave and Herald true,” Stefen sung softly. “Monster did the Herald slew. Mage Gift was not to be had.” He stopped singing and playing. “No, too on the nose.” His brow wrinkled in concentration, and then he started singing and playing again. “While Mage the Herald was not.” He stopped singing again, but he kept playing. Vanyel could tell that he was working over different lyrics in his mind. The tune wasn’t consistent, either. That was clearly still a work in progress, as well.

Vanyel smiled but didn’t alert Stefen to his presence. They would be reunited in good time. Vanyel turned to go and realized that he and Stefen weren’t the only ones at the edge of festivities. There was another man, with brown hair and a brown beard, watching Stefen from the shadows. As Vanyel watched, the man took a step forward.

“You play beautifully,” he said when Stefen took a pause from his composition. 

“Thank you,” Stefen said, which caused the man to blush.

“I’m Dom.”

“Stefen.”

**3**

On the eighth Sovven Night, Vanyel saw the Shadow-Lover again. He started to ask Shadow-Lover if they’d be dancing once more, but then he saw that the Shadow-Lover’s clothes were more somber this time.

“What is it?” Vanyel asked.

“Work tonight,” the Shadow-Lover said. “For your or for me, we shall see. Come on.”

The Shadow-Lover took Vanyel’s hand, and within a few steps, they were somewhere else in Valdemar. In fact, they were no longer in the Forest of Sorrows. Vanyel started to ask the Shadow-Lover for an explanation, but then he saw the scene before him. No further explanation was necessary.

There was a teenage girl on a palfrey, with another palfrey saddled but with no rider. Another teenage girl was not ten feet away. Between them was a man. He was holding a knife. The family resemblance between the man and the unhorsed girl was unmistakable. The man was shouting at his daughter.

“Gods damn it, Clariss,” the man boomed, “no daughter of mine is running off with some hussy!”

“Lynna’s not a hussy!” Clariss protested. She wasn’t shouting, but her anger was evident – as was her fear.

“It’s unnatural!” her father bellowed, “And I’ll see my daughter dead before she shames herself!”

“You wouldn’t!” Clariss said. Her eyes had grown larger with fear.

“I would, and don’t you think your Gift can stop me.”

“Fetching,” the Shadow-Lover explained.

In that case, Vanyel reflected, she could disarm her father. But as soon as he realized that, he understood just a clearly that if Clariss was going to do that, she would have done it already. No doubt that, despite the circumstances, using her Gift against family was not something she was willing to do. Vanyel understood loving parents who did not love back all too well. As he watched, Clariss fought back with words instead.

“Herald-Mage Vanyel Ashkevron was shaych!”

Vanyel was shocked to hear his own named invoked, and shocked again at Clariss’ father’s counterargument.

“That’s not true!” he screamed. “Lies! Rumors made up by our enemies to slander our great hero!” He was in a rage now. With the knife still raised, he came at Clariss menacingly. Vanyel saw what he needed to do.

Putting himself between them, he made it so that everyone present could see him. His sudden appearance alone was enough to make Clariss’ father halt abruptly.

: _I am too shaych,_ : Vanyel Mindspoke mildly to all present, : _And I should think I would know best regarding the matter._ : He turned and smiled gently at Clariss. : _Go ahead and get on your palfrey._ :

Clariss’ fear had been overcome by pure glee. She was smiling ear to ear. Stepping around her father and Vanyel, she climbed upon her horse.

: _Gods speed you,_ : Vanyel told her as she brought her horse around.

“No one in Havens is going to believe this,” Clariss muttered as she and Lynna began their journey.

Vanyel turned his attentions back to her father. The man was white as a sheet, and his knees looked like they wouldn’t hold him for long. Vanyel glared at him and then let himself dematerialize from view. When he turned back to the Shadow-Lover, he saw that his clothes had changed again. He was now wearing a sky-blue attire with emeralds sewn about it.

“Looks like I didn’t have to work tonight here, after all,” the Shadow-Lover beamed. He held out his arm, and Vanyel took it.

**4**

Vanyel encountered Stefen again on his ninth Sovven Night. It was again by chance. He knew there was a band of travelers making a trek through the Forest of Sorrows for a religious pilgrimage. When he silently joined the procession, he saw that Stefen and Dom were with the band, as well. Dom, Vanyel discovered, was a guard-for-hire. Stefen and Dom were talking quietly as they walked.

“I’ve never had a lifebond,” Dom said glumly. “I don’t know if I could understand that. But I know that I love you.”

“I know,” Stefen said. “And there’s a part of me that wants to be with you. But I feel like I would be betraying Van.”

_Oh no you don’t_ , Vanyel thought. Recalling his long-ago dream of Tylendel, he Mindspoke to Stefen. _:Will you avoid eating tonight if you ate better last night? Or because you know that you’ll eat a greater feast tomorrow?:_

Stefen looked up sharply. “Van!”

“What?” Dom asked. Some of the people near them look at them briefly, but then resumed what they were doing. The procession had just halted for the night, and there was a great deal of work that needed to be done to set up camp.

“Van’s here,” Stefen said excitedly. “I don’t see him, but he just Mindspoke to me. He’s nearby.”

“His spirit’s nearby?” Dom asked. The surprise on his face was evident. “Um, hello, Herald.”

_:I won’t be staying long,:_ Vanyel Mindspoke to both of them. _:Talk it out.:_

Stefen went first. “I love you, too, Dom, but I don’t love you the same way I love Van. The best I can offer you is- is-” He snapped his fingers suddenly. “-Is to death do us part. I can’t love you more than that.”

Dom gave him a strange look. “I can’t love you any more than that, either. Any more than that – Gods! – that’s a level of commitment that’s beyond me.”

“And you’re okay with that?” Stefen asked.

Dom nodded. “I’m not-” He wrestled with his words. “I know that you’re always going to love Vanyel. He was your love before me, and-” Here he glanced around, but Vanyel was not visible to him. “-And he’ll be your love after me. That’s fine. I just want to be your love in the _now_. And I don’t want you feeling guilty for all the love you feel for him, whether it be yesterday or today or tomorrow.”

_:And don’t feel guilty about loving him, either,:_ Vanyel Mindspoke to Stefen. _:Show some more sense than I did, ashke.:_

“Okay,” Stefen said, and his words were directed at both Dom and Vanyel. “But let’s wait until tomorrow.”

“Why- Oh, right,” Dom said. “Sorry. It’s Sovven Night, isn’t it? You said Vanyel hates this night.”

_:Not anymore,:_ Vanyel Mindspoke to both of them.

Dom grinned at the darkness and spoke to a place two feet to the left of where Vanyel was actually standing. “Okay, you spook. I’d like to passionately kiss this Bard. Are you planning to stand around and watch?”

Vanyel chuckled. _:I’ll be going. Kiss passionately away.:_ Behind him, as he left, they did just that.

**5**

Vanyel didn’t see Stefen again until his eighteenth Sovven Night as a wandering spirit. As it was, he saw Clariss again the same night. Vanyel had come to the small town near the Forest of Sorrows because he’d seen the colddrake come in. He knew that the town was there and that its inhabitants would be in danger. He had come to help only to find his presence was unneeded.

Clariss, clad head to toe in the whites of a Herald, was facing down the colddrake. She was safely out of reach of it but still shaking with justified fear. The townspeople were well behind her. Vanyel spotted Clariss’ Companion at the forefront of the crowd. Lynna was next to the Companion, her hand resting gently on the Companion’s shoulder. The Companion was swaying rhythmically from side to side. Stefen was near the back of the crowd, several children clinging to him for security. Dom was at the edge, his sword drawn but not yet making a move.

As Vanyel got closer, he realized that everyone but the Companion had their eyes tightly closed. The colddrake had been looking at Clariss, but when it made a slow movement toward the Herald, she danced quickly out of range. The colddrake, enraged, turned her glare on the Companion, and Vanyel realized what was happening. If it happened that the colddrake could bewitch the Companion, Lynna would feel the Companion freeze and could interfere with the requisite eye contact. And when the Companion was unspelled, she could guide Clariss’ movements.

Clariss spoke then, but Vanyel realized that she wasn’t speaking to him or anyone else present. Rather, she was singing to herself, albeit not very well. Despite the poor tune, Vanyel smiled as he heard the words. “Herald brave and Herald true,” Clariss half-spoke, half-sung. “Monster did the Herald slew. While Mage the Herald was not, by Gifts did bring beast to rot.” As she continued the song, her shaking slowly stopped.

Mid song, a rock rose suddenly in the air as Clariss utilized her Fetching gift. It wasn’t a large rock, but Clariss flung it toward the colddrake’s left eye at great speed. The beast screamed in pain as the eye was ruined. Clariss’ next rock went toward the colddrake’s right eye, but the beast was thrashing about so much that it missed. The next rock missed, as well, but the one after that found its mark.

“All right, everyone!” Clariss shouted. “It’s blind. Eyes open.”

Dom, along with some other fighters, made their move then. As they hacked at the beast with swords and spears, Clariss continued to fling rocks at the colddrake, distracting its attention any time there was danger of it making a kill.

There were cheers when the beast was slain. Stefen returned the children who had been clinging to him to their parents and then rushed over to Dom, hugging and kissing him. Lynna did the same to Clariss. Once they had both finished that, Stefen turned to Clariss.

“You’re a fine Herald,” he praised. “I’ve got some ideas of a ballad for this one.”

**\+ 1**

A great many Sovven Nights passed on before Stefen joined Vanyel in the Forest of Sorrows. Dom had passed on in that time, as well. In fact, Vanyel saw him dance by in the arms of the Shadow-Lover the night his life left him, headed for a destination unknown to the Herald-Mage. Vanyel and Stefen had been united for a glorious half-year before Sovven Night came upon them again.

“Have you ever bobbed for apples?” Vanyel asked him as they strode into the village the Shadow-Lover had taken Vanyel to the first Sovven Night after Vanyel’s passing.

“Lots of times,” Stefen answered.

Vanyel grinned at him. “Have you ever bobbed for apples as a spirit?”

“No, this will be my first.”

“It’s good fun,” Vanyel told him. “Everyone enjoys a good scare on Sovven Night, and if there aren’t any bandits about that require our attention, I do believe that we’ll have the night to ourselves.”


End file.
